{"id":370488,"date":"2024-02-25T05:18:01","date_gmt":"2024-02-25T06:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=370488"},"modified":"2024-02-25T08:03:26","modified_gmt":"2024-02-25T08:03:26","slug":"im-worried-champion-dee-fears-for-club-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=370488","title":{"rendered":"'I'm worried': Champion Dee fears for club culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne<\/a> legend Garry Lyon<\/a> has declared he is "worried" about the state of his football club, amid suggestions the Demons are struggling with a drug culture, after trafficking allegations made by Sports Integrity Australia (SIA) against forward Joel Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Victoria Police confirmed they are looking into allegations, after Smith was served three Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) by Sport Integrity Australia<\/a> (SIA) for alleged "trafficking or attempted trafficking" of cocaine to third parties. No charges have been laid.<\/p>\n

In an anti-doping context, trafficking may include an athlete "selling, delivering or distributing" any prohibited substance.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Coach's 'weird' return sparks Queensland into life<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Dream return for retired star as Matildas win\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> England left in disbelief over contentious umpire call\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Reports allege Smith sent text messages to Demons teammates offering them cocaine.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Lyon, who played 226 games in the red and blue, believes the \ufeffworrisome allegations could taint the club's proud history.<\/p>\n

\"Joel<\/p>\n

"I haven't learnt anything new\u2026 I don't know anything about the text messages, so until such time I know more about that," Lyon said on SEN Radio.<\/p>\n

"But yes I'm worried \u2026 perception becomes a reality."<\/p>\n

Despite Smith's allegations, which he is yet to respond to, coupled with star midfielder Clayton Oliver<\/a>'s troubles, Lyon says he won't deviate from supporting his club.<\/p>\n

\"Oliver<\/p>\n

Oliver has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, including his early exit from the club's training camp<\/a> at the end of 2023, following intense\ufeff trade speculation<\/a> as well as a brief hospital visit<\/a>.\ufeff<\/p>\n

There is no suggestion that Oliver's issues relate to drugs.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I don't believe everything I read, some I do, but now the challenge for this playing group is to be able to go, 'hey, we're not using that as any excuse whatsoever'," Lyon said.<\/p>\n

"People will say Melbourne's season is shot, the distractions there, they're a mess. They're not a mess."<\/p>\n

\"MELBOURNE,<\/p>\n

Demons footy boss \ufeffAlan Richardson<\/a> also shut down suggestions that the club is struggling with culture issues.<\/p>\n

"No, we don't. We've certainly had an incident with respect to Joel that's still being investigated," Richardson told SEN on Friday.<\/p>\n

Melbourne will take on Sydney at the SCG as part of the AFL's new Opening Round<\/a>, to be played the week before round one of the 2024 season.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melbourne legend Garry Lyon has declared he is "worried" about the state of his football club, amid suggestions the Demons are struggling with a drug […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":370491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=370488"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370493,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370488\/revisions\/370493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/370491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}